Hunger for Learning

Today is our first day back to "Home-School Pre-School". Gramma bought us the entire series of "The Magic Schoolbus" on DVD a few months ago, and Uncle Shawn bought the kids (and Mommy-Daddy) a new DVD player for Christmas. So, put them together, and we have this morning's classroom. 

The kids are completely enthralled. 

Today should be Math Day, so once they're over MSB, we'll break out the coloring books and do some color by numbers and shapes and puzzles.

Santa brought all kinds of fun educational toys and games, so we have a lot of new learning and exploring ahead of us. 

Our schedule is both structured and broad.

Monday is Math.

Tuesday is Science.

Wednesday is Arts & Crafts.

Thursday is Reading.

Friday is Home & Health.

Math doesn't only mean adding and subtracting. It's counting, shapes, puzzles, and number recognition. I sneak in as much "learning" as I can. If we go run errands, we count things on the trip, or we search for shapes.

Science is always a fun day because we get dirty, or messy, and it's a day both GG and Boo look forward to. We collect things from outside, or we look at things under the magnifying glass, or we do simple experiments. We work in the garden or do other yard work. 

Arts & Crafts is also a day they look forward to, and sometimes we combine science day and arts & crafts day. We'll make seasonal or holiday projects, or we'll string beads, or we'll color and draw, or play with play dough. We practice with scissors and glue, and I take every opportunity to get hand prints and foot prints on things to keep.

Reading day is full of tracing letters, sounds, word puzzles, and games, and reading stories. There are a lot of free children's e-books, so I'll download a few and read them to the kids. Of course we have a ton of real books here too, and these kids have never turned down the option to sit and be read to.

Home & Health is where we do house work, laundry, and grocery shopping. We talk about the importance of our food choices and focus on our home, health, and environment. Like science day, we work in the garden, and talk about the foods we grow and how they taste. It's a day when I'll start a big pot of chicken stock, or a long cooking soup. The kids help with ingredients, stirring, and adding things to the pots. We also watch a little Food Network on these days. Yes... Mommy *might* be sneaking in a little me-time by rationalizing that, but it fits in the curriculum. 

In the time it has taken me to write this, the kids have moved on from watching The Magic School Bus, and are playing with their Leap Pads. 

When I mentioned above that the days are both structured and broad, I mean that not everything done on a specific day is mandatory to that subject, but I will try to put elements *of* that subject into each activity. Plus... They are 5 and 3. If it's possible for someone to have a shorter attention span than me, it's bound to be my preschoolers.

Speaking of which, it's time for me to take my vitamins and have some breakfast.

Remember you can stay hungry for things other than things edible, and when you play with your food, that *food* can be whatever is feeding that hunger. 

So, as always, stay hungry, and play with your food.

Pistachio Thumbprints

Hands down... No lie...

THE. BEST. COOKIE. EVER. 

Oven to 350

3/4 C butter
2 eggs, separated. (Mix the yolk into the batter, use the whites to roll the cookie in, pre-baking, so the pistachios stick)
1 C sugar
2 1/4 C flour (I used red mill gluten free all purpose blend)
Tiny pinch of salt (my recipe just says "salt", there's no amount listed)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
About a cup or so chopped pistachios. (My recipe doesn't list how many you'll need. I remember chopping them with my step-mom in the old food processor, but I don't remember how much we used. Do it in small batches, and don't whir it too long, or you'll get pistachio butter instead of chopped nuts. You might be able to find them shelled and chopped. I bought the 8oz bag with the shells still on, and the kids and I shelled them. This was NOT enough to coat all the cookies, so I recommend at least a bag and a half if you have the kind with the shells on. Should have measured the amount I ended up with after shelling, but I didn't.)

A jar of apricot preserves. (Leave it on the counter, don't refrigerate. And before spooning into cookies at the end, stir the day lights out of it so it's more like a sauce. This makes it much erasure to spoon on to the cookie.

Mix the butter, sugar and yolks until creamy and smooth.
Sift together the flour, BP, and salt.
Slowly add the dry into the creamed butter/sugar/yolk mixture
(I'm use to the people on Food Network chilling cookie dough at this point, but what I have written down doesn't say to do this)
Form cookie balls

(My balls wouldn't "roll", because the dough was crumbly. I just kinda smushed them into a roundish shape. They get a divit put in the middle pre-baking to hold the preserves anyway, so the shape is not a make-or-break at this point.)
Roll cookie balls in the egg whites, then into the chopped pistachios. (I didn't roll as much as smush. I wanted to be sure each cookie had a nice solid pistachio coating.)
Place on parchment paper lined cookie sheet, and press your thumb into the cookie ball to make the indent for the preserves.

Bake 350 for 8 minutes. You'll probably need to repress thumb, just because they may pouf a bit during cooking.  Now... This is what the hand-me-down recipe said, and I may have made mine too big, it may have been an issue with my oven temp, and it may have been that I was a dumby and used waxed paper instead of parchment, but I needed an extra 5 minutes cook time

This is them after the first 8 minutes. I wanted to believe my hand written notes from 25 years ago, but I put them back in for another 5 minutes, as I noted above.

Let them cool, then put a dollop of the apricot preserves right in the center.

Make at lease 2 batches if you plan on sharing with neighbors, teachers, or family. They are RICH! And insanely yummy.

Ok, a note about the batter... When I made these a minute ago to test my recipe, I didn't follow my own instructions, and if forgot to add the sugar to the egg yolk and butter mixture. I wasn't paying attention, and had it in my head to sift dry ingredients, so I did just that...including the sugar. Dingus.

So I proceeded to try to incorporate ALL the dry ingredients into the not room-temp-yet butter and egg yolks. It looked like a pure-T mess.

Still not willing to give up, I dumped the whole thing out into the countertop to see if I could kneed it into submission. I did. 

This is what it looked like. I could not pick it up, as it would crumble. So, I used my scooper and scooped up a little at a time and made my "balls" that were very much not round.

Stay hungry, and remember to play with your food. EVEN when baking.

Found gem

This past summer, I bought a ton of fresh corn. Too much for us to eat. But, since I'm so cheap, and can't stand to waste food, I grilled it on the cob, cut it off, and froze it to use in a future blackbean, corn salsa.

Tonight, I came upon the frozen, grilled corn. Unused in salsa. Drat! I want corn. But this is "meant for" salsa. 

I go search the outside freezer for corn. Yuck. Only the frozen store-bought mini-ears that the kids love.

So... I trudge back inside. Forlorn ... and ready at accept defeat. 

Eff that. I want corn, I never allow myself corn, and here are 2 cups of "fresh" grilled corn. 

Into the saucepan goes butter, then the frozen/grilled corn. It pops, it sizzles, the butter melts, the corn steams, and just like an over-worked public servant, it mellows and eases into it's sauna of warm bubbly dreamyness, as it relaxes into the bath of melted butter (and a little warm water for added bliss) for an evening of joy.

Next... Enter the pork chops. Marinated in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper. Into the cast iron skillet goes a tablespoon of butter. It starts to melt, wanders across the pan, weaving a little, and leaving a trail of glistening love in her wake.

I swirl the pan, enjoying the symphony of the butter's sizzle. 

The pork chops go in. The sear is beautiful. She begins to brown, to golden around the edges, to create a crispy thin herb crusted layer, and becomes lovingly and tenderly kissed all over. You can't rush these things. So don't try. They will tell you when they're ready. Don't poke. Don't scrape. Sure as he'll don't stab. Just let them COOK.

In a bit, try to give them a little turn with your tongs. If they release with complete ease, flip. Marvel at the color you achieved on that sear. My LORD, that's gorgeous. Your friends will be amazed. Post that bad boy on Facebook! You earned it.

If you're cooking a wicked thick cut, it's ok to now put the lid on. You're trapping heat at this point. If you did it earlier, you'd be steaming, and steamed meat sucks.

Cook to the level of doneness you want. I can't tell you this. You have to play with your food to figure out what you like. 

Like ones choice of partner, I couldn't begin to tell you who to choose, and I can't tell you how to cook your food. Eat what you love. Cook what you want to eat. Don't listen to anyone. It's your mouth. Yours.

Stay hungry, and play with your food!

Best. Spaghetti. Sauce. Ever. (Well, up until today, that is.)

Oh, man, am I getting good at making spaghetti sauce. You'd think I was Italian, instead of English/Irish/Scotch/German. 

Pack of 5 Italian sausage links. About a pound, I think.

1 Tbs Olive Oil

3 small onions (tennis ball sized) diced

1.5 small heads garlic (Yes... The entire head. Don't fear the garlic, it's delicious.), roughly chopped.

1/8 C Italian Seasoning

1/8 C dried Basil

1 C Red wine of choice.

1 28oz can crushed tomatoes (shake can before opening)

1 15oz can tomato sauce (shake can before opening)

1 6oz can tomato paste

2 T balsamic vinegar

Bay leaf(s)

Salt

Pepper

Into your favorite heavy sauce pot, brown the sausages in the olive oil over medium/high heat.

Add the diced onions, stir, and cook for a few minutes to soften. About 5 minutes.

Add the chopped garlic, the Italian seasoning, and the basil. Cook the onion, garlic, sausage, and spice mixture for a few minutes to gook the onions further, to cook the garlic, and to bloom the dried herbs. Stir so you don't burn the onions and garlic. About 7 minutes.

Add the wine, and using your spoon, scrape the little bits of deliciousness off the bottom of the pot. 

Add your crushed tomatoes, your tomato sauce, and your tomato paste. Use water to swish the last bits of paste out of the can. Pour that into the sauce can, and swish to get last of sauce from that can, pour that into the crushed tomato can to get the rest of what's left in that can. Add this to the sauce pot, and stir.

Taste.

It will taste a little sour at this point. 

Add the balsamic vinegar.

Taste again.

See how that sweetened and brightened it up? It's magic. I swear. Glorious stuff!

Add salt and pepper as you and your family/friends/guests enjoy. 

Taste again.

When you have it where you like it, add a bay leaf or two, depending on its size, and put the lid on the pot. Turn it to low, and let it simmer as long as you can stand it. 4 hours at least, but the longer the better.

Today (spaghetti day) is one of my sons worst and longest days. He HATES waiting for the sauce to be done, and asks about every 20 minutes if it's ready and time for supper yet.

Tonight, GranMa (my AMAZING Mother-In-Law) is coming to our house so we can all go see Santa, then she's staying for supper. With our spaghetti, we'll have gluten free garlic bread (yes, more garlic), and a ceasar salad.

Stay hungry, and play with your food.

Mommy needs a Time Out

Today was the first day that I've wanted to curl up in a ball, lock myself in a room, and cry because I just could not get through to my kids. They were hell-bent on doing anything and EVERYTHING to break the rules. So... After looking up a ton of articles on parenting, and how to deal with your angel child who has decided to become the devil himself, I realized a few things.

No one really knows what to do. And like everything else, there are a million experts who will all have different ideas. 

So, I regrouped and thought about what we needed here. What are we going to do to combat these 3yo and 5yo devil days? We're going back to basics.

There are only 5 rules.

1) No running in the house.

2) No jumping on the furniture.

3) No hitting.

4) Do what Mommy says the first time.

5) No interrupting.

GG (3) only has to remember and 100% abide by the first 3, as she's 3. Boo (5) has to remember and abide 100% by all 5, as he's 5.

In addition to this, we're stopping the hand spanks. We're stopping the, "I'm going to count to three before I..."  If any of the above 5 rules are broken, they just go straight to time out. No warning, no talking, no debating. Done and doner. If they spend all day in time out, so be it. That's their choice. 

And the cool thing, is that we had a real family talk about all of this tonight. Well, Honey, Boo, and I talked. GG went from lap to lap, flopped of the couch, twirled around, and joined in when prompted.  My Honey and I talked to the kids about their punishments, their behavior, our behavior, and how we're going to deal with misbehaving. And, to be honest, we have to be more consistent with our systems too. They need to learn that these basic rules are a black and white issue. I feel that these are clear, basic, and easily upheld rules and expectations. 

Stay silly and play with your kids.

Chew

I'm playing with my food today, y'all. And I'm pretty excited about it. In the crockpot, I have black beans that I soaked in a bowl with plain old tap water over night, and stew meat. You know, the big cubes of the tough beef that you find at the grocery store that's labeled, "beef for stew". The only way I have found to make this product tasty is to cook it all day in a liquid of choice. You can use water, beef broth, wine, beer, or really any liquid you have or want. Mix it up and use tomato juice if you want. Ooh... I bet that would be good because the acid in the tomatoes would help tenderize the meat cubes. I have to write that down... Oh... Wait... I just did. Now I just have to remember where I wrote it. 

Also in the pot, I have all the cloves from one very small bulb of garlic, dried rosemary, dried thyme, salt, fresh ground black pepper, 2 small dry bay leaves, and chili powder.

2 cups dry Black Beans, soaked over night in tap water

2lbs "beef for stew" cubes

8 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

2 t dry rosemary

3 t dry thyme

1 T kosher salt

1 T fresh black pepper

2 small dry bay leaves

2 T chili powder (you know, the blend that has cumin and garlic powder in it)

Freaked out about the quantity of the spices? Don't be. This is making A LOT of food. Both the beans and these huge meat chunks are naturally dense and kinda flavorless on their own, so I may even need to add more spices once it cooks for a while. 

My crock pot is FULL. I poured in enough water to cover the meat and put the cooker on high. I'll cook on high for only one hour, then turn it down to low. I would have done low all day, but I noticed when I put my meat chunks in, some weren't 100% thawed out, and I wanted the high cook time to get its attention. 

When I make a soup, stew, sauce, chili, etc, I like to make a ton so my Honey can take it to work for lunches and suppers when he's teaching or has staff duty. Plus, things like this just get more delicious the longer they sit, so each day will be better and better. AND, y'all know I love myself some left-over-throw-togethers, and a soup/stew/chili/sauce is a great start for a great new dish.

We love roasted veggies in our home, so I'm going to cut up red potatoes, onions, and baby carrot, roll them around in some olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast them on high heat (450) in the oven until they are tender, toasty, and naturally caramelized, sweet, slightly smoky, and heavenly.

I'm calling today's creation Chew. It's a chili and a stew. Yes, I could have named it a stili, but I thought "Chew" was quite apropos.  

Hope it's as tasty in real life as it is in my imagination. I'll report back. Stay tuned, stay hungry, and play with your food.